Beloved Clown of Aleppo, who brought joy to children, dies in air strike

A man who endeavoured to bring joy to Syrian children in the rebel-held part of Aleppo has reportedly been killed in an air strike.

Anas al-Basha, 24, was a director at Space for Hope, and took joy from dressing as a clown and counselling children orphaned by the country’s war.

He was killed in an air strike in the Mashhad neighbourhood in eastern Aleppo, the Associated Press reported.

Al-Basha, was a center director at Space for Hope, one of the many important but unheralded local initiatives that has operated against the odds to provide the services of civil society in Syria's war-torn opposition areas. (AAP) ()

Space for Hope supports 12 schools and four pyscho-social support centres in Aleppo, and counsels more than 360 children.

"He lived to make children laugh and happy in the darkest most dangerous place," Mahmoud al-Basha, who identified himself as Anas' brother, wrote on Facebook.

"Anas who refused to leave Aleppo and decided to stay there to continue his work as a volunteer, to help the civilians and give gifts for the children in the streets to bring hope for them."

The UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura says the total number of displaced people in Aleppo is more than 400,000.